


The Commoner King

by quodVide



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: AU where Kairi is awake, Courtroom Drama, Examining Ansem the Wise's redemption arc, Gen, Ienzo catches up on ten years of stress, Implied Sora/Riku/Kairi - Freeform, Mostly Canon Compliant, Political Intrigue, Re:Mind Spoilers, Succession Crisis, The Restoration Committee, original moogle characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:41:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22427995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quodVide/pseuds/quodVide
Summary: When Ansem the Wise steps down as king of Radiant Garden, who rises to take his place? With the help of Ienzo and the Restoration Committee, Riku and Kairi navigate the ins and outs of courtly politics and try not to let it interfere with the search for their best friend.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 35





	The Commoner King

It's the middle of the night when Riku's gummiphone starts ringing, its tinny little jingle barely audible above the waves crashing against the island's shore. He almost considers letting it go to voicemail — it's late, and he's been enjoying the solitude, inasmuch as solitude can be enjoyable for him under these circumstances — but he figures if someone's calling him at this hour, it must be important. He picks up, holding it over his head, the screen illuminating his face against the dark of the night.

"Hey."

"Oh, thank goodness." It's Ienzo, looking harried and frantic, dark circles under his eyes and his hair even more unruly than usual. Riku doesn't recognize his surroundings. Unusually, it's not the lab. Somewhere in Radiant Garden's castle, maybe, but beyond that he can't tell. "My apologies for calling so late — I wouldn't have if it wasn't absolutely necessary, but there's a bit of a situation beginning to—"

Riku sits up, shaking sand out of his hair. "What's wrong?" Ienzo swallows visibly and glances over his shoulder at the sound of vague commotion in the distance.

"It's complicated. You should really get here as quickly as possible. It has to do with Sora."

Already on his feet and making his way to the gummi ship, he nods to Ienzo. "I'm on my way."

"Good." Again, Ienzo glances over his shoulder, apparently listening to someone just offscreen. He frowns, deeply, before turning back to his phone. "I have to go. I'm sorry. I'll send someone to fill you in on the details once you arrive. Please, it's very important that you get here as quickly as you can."

Well, that bodes poorly. Riku vaults into the gummi ship's cockpit and engages the launch protocols, setting a course for Radiant Garden.

* * *

It's a long, agonizingly stressful trip between worlds, punctuated by way too many dogfights with those few Heartless still left scattered throughout the interplanetary void, and by the time Riku sets the ship down in the town square the sun is already starting to peek over the horizon, painting the marble walls of Radiant Garden in deep lavender and lilac. He gives himself a brief half-moment to appreciate the beauty of it — he still hasn't gotten used to seeing the worlds like this, in times of peace — before hopping out of the driver's seat and onto the tiles below, where a familiar face is waiting to greet him.

"Riku!" His feet barely touch earth before he's swept off them again in a mighty and jubilant bear hug. His assailant laughs, high and delighted, and it only takes him a second to get over the disorientation of being suddenly lifted clean off the ground.

"Kairi?" His childhood friend beams up at him, finally setting him back down.

"Yep, it's me," she says, clasping her hands behind her back coyly. "Didn't expect that, did you?"

"No, I— I thought you were still looking for Sora in the Realm of Sleep. Did you find him? Is that why Ienzo called me?" It sure didn't sound like that was the case from his tone, but he has to ask. Kairi's expression falls and she shuffles her feet.

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get your hopes up."

Riku shakes his head, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's fine, don't worry about it. What's going on?"

"Someone's trying to stop us from looking for Sora. That's why they woke me up, to try to sort things out, but it's more than I can handle on my own." Kairi starts walking towards the castle, gesturing for Riku to follow her. He does, brow furrowing in confusion.

"Who would do that? Is it Maleficent?"

Kairi shakes her head. "No, from what I can tell it's a lot less straightforward than that. You'd better see for yourself. Come on."

They walk together up the long flight of stairs leading to the castle's entrance, where Dilan and Aeleus are standing guard, looking almost as worn down as Ienzo had, seeming nearly asleep on their feet until the two Keybearers draw close.

"Good, you came," says Dilan wearily, stepping aside and pulling the door open for the two of them. "The meeting is already in session in the courtroom."

Aeleus nods curtly, and adjusts the weight of his axe-sword on his shoulder. "It's down the hall and to the left."

"Thank you," says Kairi, giving a shallow curtsy before grabbing Riku by the hand and all but running down the hall. They hear the conversation long before they reach it: an unfamiliar man's muffled but booming voice echoing down the hallway despite the lush carpeting and floral tapestries lining the walls.

"A _meeting?_ " Riku asks, barely keeping up with Kairi as she races down the hall.

"You'll see." She makes it to the doors, a towering affair some ten feet high and done up in bronze and brass, clearly made to impress the sort of people who were impressed by pointlessly fancy architecture. Reaching for the doorknobs, she looks to Riku. "Are you ready?"

Not sure what to expect, Riku nods, feeling confused and a little afraid. Kairi takes a deep breath and throws the doors wide open.

The courtroom is large and ornately decorated, much like the rest of the castle. Paintings of old rulers decorate the wood-paneled walls, and at the head of the room are a series of podiums, flanked on either side by raised stands occupied by what look to be dozens of people, all dressed in bright formalwear. It’s all very, very imposing, an impression not at all helped by the way nearly everyone in attendance stops and turns to look at the two of them as they stand in the open door. Riku clears his throat and lets himself be pulled along to his seat by a grimly determined-looking Kairi, who shoots an uncharacteristically vicious glare at the only man uninterrupted by their entrance.

"—cannot be allowed to proceed," says the man, sweeping his long blue hair over his shoulders, his eyes blazing with a calm intensity that is only accentuated by the strange vein-like patterns outlining them. He speaks slowly and deliberately, his voice resonating throughout the chamber. "These 'experiments' are a threat to the safety of our world, if not _all_ worlds, as they have always been. Allowing Ansem to continue them is the height of foolishness, and for what? The return of just one boy out of the thousands if not millions lost when his last pet project failed?"

Riku scowls, the situation starting to dawn on him. _This_ is the reason Ienzo called him in the middle of the night? It had to be something more serious than a blowhard in a fancy robe. Leaning over to Kairi, he whispers in her ear. "Who's that guy?" Kairi leans over to meet him halfway, and whispers back.

"That's Duke Seymour Guado," she says. "He's one of Ansem the Wise's distant cousins, I think?"

The whispering seems to get the duke's attention, and his intense gaze lands on the two of them briefly, eyes narrowing as he watches them. Riku stares back, unflinching, and the whole room is silent for a moment before he resumes his speech.

"While I appreciate the contributions Sora has made to the city's reconstruction and continued safety, do we truly have any reason to devote so much of our time to this wild goose chase? These are resources that would be better spent on those who are still with us. When Ansem the Wise stepped down from his throne, we all assumed that would put an end to his flights of fancy, but his _chosen successor_ ," and the man's voice all but drips with a scarcely disguised disdain at these words, "has decided to not only continue the experiments, but pour even more funding into it and even devote his own efforts to the cause when he should be preparing to inherit the throne."

"Wait." Riku leans over to Kairi again. "If Ansem's not the king anymore, who is?"

Kairi points towards the podium, and for the first time since arriving Riku recognizes Ienzo, sitting in the highest seat in the center, wearing an embroidered blue and white robe with his hair brushed back out of his face. He looks utterly exhausted and half-terrified, his hands white-knuckled on the desk in front of him, jaw clenched with a sort of shaky defiance.

"We are all well aware by now that the former king and his apprentices have some sort of personal ties with the Keyblade Wielders, upon which they will not elaborate, but is it at all appropriate for them to use their respective stations to aid them at Radiant Garden's expense? I think not."

"Is that all, Duke Guado?" Ienzo asks, raising his head up high and trying not to look like someone a half-foot shorter than his podium was designed for. The duke nods, a faint, smug smile playing across his lips.

"Yes, it is."

"In that case, Restoration Committee representative Gainsborough has the floor."

"Thank you, your Majesty." Riku watches with some surprise as Aerith rises to her feet, taking over Seymour's position before the stand. She smooths the front of her dress out and glances at him and Kairi, smiling at the two of them before addressing the court.

"While I understand Duke Guado's reservations when it comes to Ansem the Wise's experiments, it should be emphasized that the nature of his current research is strictly for the purposes of locating Sora and bringing him back to this realm safely, and carries none of the risks associated with his prior research into the nature of the heart, which has been suspended indefinitely by ruling of the court."

Murmurs of agreement ripple through the crowd, and Aerith patiently waits for them to pass before continuing.

"As for the topic of whether we should be looking for Sora in the first place, may I be a little unconventional?" Aerith asks. "I'd like to call a witness from the crowd. Is that all right?"

"Permission granted," says Ienzo, nodding. "Call your witness.

Aerith gives a shallow bow before turning to the more crowded, lower-sitting seats to the left of the podium, where Riku and Kairi were sitting. "Mogchi?" One of the moogles in attendance stands up in their seat, smoothing out their apron. The top of their pom-pom barely reaches the shoulder of the person sitting next to them. "I seem to recall you having something you'd like to say to the assembly about your experiences with Sora."

Mogchi nods, and raises their high, fluting voice. "I first met Sora three years ago, kupo, just after coming back to Hollow Bastion. I'd just lost everything — my whole stock of goods and all my physical savings - in an attack by the Heartless. I thought I was ruined, but then he showed up, kupo. He not only bought out my broken stock, he _gave me_ one hundred thousand munny."

"He gave it to you?" asks Aerith, with a pleased serenity that implied she already knew where the story was going.

"Absolutely, kupo. I thought he was giving me a loan, and I was all ready to pay him back when I next saw him nearly a year later, but he just laughed and claimed he'd forgotten all about it, and told me to keep the munny. I was astounded, kupo. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been able to establish my shop here in the first place."

"And I think we all know how important Mogchi's work as a synthesist for the Restoration Committee has been to the reconstruction of Radiant Garden," says Aerith, smiling at the Moogle. "Thank you, Mogchi. Now, would everyone else who has a similar story please stand up?"

Almost half the audience on the crowded side — the commoners, Riku guessed? They're on the whole a more motley and less elaborately dressed group than their higher-sitting counterparts on the other side of the room — get to their feet, and even some of the severe-looking men and women on the aristocratic(?) side begrudgingly stand as well. Aerith smiles again, the tiniest flash of pleased wickedness to it this time.

"Unfortunately, I think we might be here well into the evening if we had everyone speak," she says, and out of the corner of his eye Riku notices tears shining in Kairi's eyes as the both of them realize just how many peoples' lives Sora had touched. Reaching over, he laces his fingers through hers, squeezing her hand.

"We'll get him back, I promise." Kairi nods, swallowing hard, and smiles sadly at him.

"But I think that gives us a good picture of just how vital Sora was to Radiant Garden's early reconstruction, not to mention his contributions to saving the worlds. Without him, many of us wouldn't be here today to be having this conversation. Do we not owe it to him to devote a fraction of the time and effort he spent on us, trying to bring him back? We are thriving, currently. Is it not our duty to pay our good fortune forward, and help those who have helped us?"

Again the crowd begins to murmur and stir, and Aerith clasps her hands in front of herself, looking eminently pleased.

"Thank you, Miss Gainsborough," says Ienzo. "With that, I'd like to call the court to a brief recess. Please have your closing statements ready for when we reconvene." And with that there's a great scraping of benches and shuffling of feet as people rise and file out of the stands. Kairi guides Riku to a small room behind the podiums, where they find Ienzo sitting with his head in his hands. He doesn't look up when the two of them enter, simply raising one hand in a half-hearted greeting.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice," he says. "Sit down anywhere. You can just move the books to the floor." Riku glances around, and indeed every flat surface in the small office is covered in folders, books, and even some loose stacks of paper. Shrugging, he picks up a pile and sets it down, gesturing for Kairi to sit before moving one for himself.

"Really, I shouldn't be seen talking to you two," says Ienzo, running a hand through his hair and seemingly unintentionally flipping it back into his face. "The court already thinks I favor outsiders' opinions more than that of the people of Radiant Garden, but I can't do this alone. The nobility is getting more and more dissatisfied by the day and I just—"

"It's okay," says Kairi, holding up a reassuring hand to cut Ienzo off before he works himself up any further. He closes his eyes, clearly trying to calm down. "This is a lot to deal with for all of us."

Riku nods solemnly. "Ienzo, what happened to Ansem? Is he okay?" It’s no secret that Riku and Ansem the Wise don’t exactly get along after their work together restoring Sora's heart with Naminé, but he _is_ the foremost expert on digitizing and decrypting memories in the worlds. If it meant getting even the tiniest hint as to where his friend could have gone, Riku was willing to spare some concern for his well-being.

Ienzo sighs, looking away. "He abdicated the throne and named me his successor. He said he no longer felt worthy to rule. After that, he voluntarily submitted to a trial for his crimes during our experiments on the heart, and was placed under house arrest after being found guilty."

"Really?" Riku raises his eyebrows. " _Just_ house arrest?" He'd read the reports and heard the stories, gleaned what little he could from DiZ's hints about his past. Some of them still make his stomach turn to think about, even though he knows he doesn’t have much of a moral high ground to stand on when it comes to destroying worlds. Ienzo just scowls at him, though his heart doesn't really seem to be in it.

"Just house arrest, yes. You're fortunate they allowed him to continue to use the labs to help us aid Kairi's progress in the Realm of Sleep." Sighing again, he straightens the silver clasp around his neck and pulls a comb out of his pocket, running it through his hair to try to pull it back out of his eyes. "He _is_ royalty, after all. There's only so much his fellow nobles are willing to do to him, lest they set a poor precedent for when their turn under the microscope comes. Of course, that all might come to an end if we can't dissuade Seymour from his crusade."

"What's his problem, anyway?" asks Riku, folding his arms over his chest and leaning back. "I get not trusting Ansem and you guys with researching anyone's heart — no offense — but it feels like there's more to it than that."

Ienzo pauses, an uncomfortable but otherwise unreadable look crossing his face. For a moment it looks like he's about to say something else, but instead he glances up at the clock on the office wall and shakes his head. "We're out of time. I'll speak to you again after closing statements." True enough, the muttering of the crowd is starting to pick up again as people start to make their way back into their seats. Wearily, he gets up and hurries back to his position on the stand.

"He looks so tired," says Kairi, watching his retreating form through the doorway. "Riku, I'm worried about him."

"Hm." Riku isn't sure what to say to that. Ienzo had been nothing but helpful since being recompleted, and even seemed appropriately apologetic for everything his Nobody had done back in Castle Oblivion and before, but there's still an uncomfortable awkwardness between the two of them that was never fully resolved. It isn’t that he’s not worried too, but there's a small part of him that gets some gratification over seeing him squirm. He's pretty sure that doesn’t say great things about him, though, so he tamps it down and shakes his head. "We'd better get going."

The two of them find their seats again, wedged in among the other commoners, and watch as Ienzo takes his place at the head of the room again.

"Duke Guado, your closing statements?"

"Of course." Seymour rises to his full, towering height and takes the stand once more, gazing around the room. "For all this colorful diversion has been… interesting, I would like to bring us back to the original point that brought us here today: the proposed merging of the Restoration Committee's provisional government and our current monarchy.

"While my opposition would argue that this is for the purposes of giving the common people of Radiant Garden more of a say in their governance, it is clear to me that this is nothing but a shameless grab for power. Althoughthe Restoration Committee was necessary while our true government was scattered to the winds and the Garden was under siege, it is no longer a relevant nor useful organization. Continuing to rely on it for leadership would only take authority away from those experienced in ruling and give it to a small handful of people who only know how to govern in wartime. This is not what the people of Radiant Garden need. Any illusions of representation in government are merely that — this so-called parliament is merely a crutch meant to prop up the new regime's weak claim to the throne. Do not be so easily manipulated."

A spattering of applause breaks out among the crowd, much to Riku's surprise. It's not much, but it's more than just the nobles in the box across from him, and he shoots Kairi a sidelong look only to find her looking just as confused. Ienzo, meanwhile, looks like he's trying not to be sick.

"Thank you, Duke Guado. Miss Gainsborough?" he says, raising a hand as if to run it through his hair and stopping just short of knocking it back into his eyes again. Seymour smiles and returns to his seat while Aerith rises.

"Yes, Your Majesty." She puts a delicate emphasis on the title, as if to highlight Seymour's not using it. "I'm afraid the opposition is mistaken in his insistence that this is just a bid for power on our part. All of the Restoration Committee's leadership has been elected via a direct vote, as I'm sure everyone here can attest." Again, murmurs of agreement. "We're here because the people trust and believe in us, just like we trust them to know what they need going forward. If and when a parliament is established, new representatives will be elected from a pool of candidates not restricted to current Restoration Committee staff.

"The adoption of a more democratic model of government would not be an end to the monarchy, but a new era - one of checks and balances and greater accountability, which I think is what we all need after the mistakes of ten years ago. No more unilateral decisions made without the knowledge or consent of the people, commoner and noble alike."

"Hmph." Placing his hands firmly on the desk and rising to his feet dramatically, Seymour speaks up again. "If I may say one last thing?"

For a split second, Ienzo pulls a deeply unimpressed face, and looks as though he's going to say something strongly negative before seemingly thinking better of it. "Permission granted just this once, Duke Guado."

Seymour bows so deeply that Riku can't take it as anything but a sarcastic gesture, still smiling that smug smile of his. "Actually, I agree with Miss Gainsborough that it's time for accountability and an end to unilateral decisions," he says, looking all too pleased with himself. "Which is why I've decided to formally oppose the former King's choice to nominate a boy not of royal blood to be his successor."

Gasps from throughout the audience, followed by mumbling ranging from concerned to intrigued. Seymour raises his hands, gesturing to quiet the noise.

"In light of his being found guilty of multiple breaches of ethics and working against Radiant Garden's best interests and his insistence on continuing his dangerous research, I think we can all agree that his judgment has long since been compromised. This is why I, Duke Seymour Guado, am officially announcing my status as challenger to the throne of Radiant Garden."

As if rehearsed, almost all of the nobles in the audience rise to their feet and begin to applaud, and some of the commoners in attendance follow suit. Riku and Kairi share a look of dismay before both looking to Ienzo, who has gone completely pale.

"I don't—" he starts, then pauses and shakes his head as he remembers something important. For once, the crowd barely quiets down when he speaks, apparently too in shock over this turn of events to be bothered. "Your challenge has been acknowledged, Duke Guado. If there is nothing else, then I would like to call this assembly to a close."

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to Cygnahime for beta reading this mess for me! I've been sitting on this concept since basically Dream Drop Distance and it feels good to finally slap it on the internet for people to read.


End file.
